Analysis of Sinister trailer

Production

The production of Sinister original developed from a nightmare that the writer C. Robert Cargill had after he watched a horror film, The Ring. Cargill's initial idea for the boogie man was based around a being that was both terrifying and seductive towards the children in order to lure in the children. Later on in the design process the name Baghuul became the monsters name and would interpret the look of a picture called "Natalie". 

The filming started in 2011 and the film wad released in the UK on the 5th October 2012. The film was directed by Scott Derrickson, who also wrote the film along with C.Robert Cargill. 

Plot

The story-line is based around the Oswalt family and how the father, Ellison, moved his family to a new house in which previously a murder took place. Ellison's moved his family to the house so he could find out more about the murder that took place there, he would then move this information to use in his new book. He roots through old boxes to find some with old film in, he plays the films and sees murders happen, yet a face appears which seems mysterious. He finds a similarity between the films, which appears to be a symbol of the boogie man Baghull. He possesses the youngest child. By watching these films, he puts his whole family in danger from this demon. 

Codes and Conventions

In the trailer for Sinister,lots of codes and conventions for horror are shown. First off,the father is investigating what is on the strange films. The fact that is based around death is also a convention included in horror films. 
Also, a warning goes unheeded, the father was warned to stop watching the films and to destroy them straight away, however he ends up researching them meaning that by the time that he destroyed the tapes, the evil had already been released. 

The Summit entertainment logo has had an effect put on in to highlight the genre of horror. The dull tone or filter on this logo, warns the audience that there is something not quite right. 



There is also a death in the first five minutes as it shows four people hanging from a tree.

 This is shows the audience that a main theme within this film is death.

Narrative

The narrative to this film trailer is non-linear, you can get a basis of the story line however. The events that happen within the trailer all fit together and look like they are in chronological order but in fact are not. The trailer creates questions in the audiences mind and does provide answers to some; such as who is the face in the background in all of the photos? it then goes on to explain who the face is. 

What is done well is that some questions that the audience may be asking are still left without being answered. This leaves the audience wanting to go and see the film. 

Representation

Within this film, there is a lot of different representation of characters. To start with, the Father puts his family in danger by looking at the films that he was warned not to do. He ignores the warning and knows that it may hurt his family. This is showing that the dominant male of the film is willing ignore warnings and to put others in danger. Another use of representation was the vulnerability of children. In the trailer it is made apparent that they are susceptible to be be taken over by the demon spirit. This plays with the audiences emotions as they will feel sympathetic towards the children, and wanting the parents to protect/ save them. 

Characters

By looking at the trailer you can immediately see that the young girls is shown to be innocent and her older brother is seen as the rebellious one. The father is shown to hold responsibility for the whole family including the financial state of which we can denote when Ellison talk about not being able to afford living in their old house. Furthermore, he is perusing his book and is going trough extreme lengths to make sure that the story will cell. You can connote that this may be due to him wanting to provide more money for his family. The mother seems to be the stereotypical supportive wife and wants to make sure her family has the 

best, even if this means moving to a house in which people have dies in.

Mise-en-scene

An important part of this trailer would be the fact that it is predominantly filmed in the dark.  This is when the boogie man is seen in children's tails. This is sparking the fear of that dark that a large proportion of children have when they are younger. 
The setting is unconventional to what most horror films are like. It is set in a suburban house with houses surrounding it, meaning that help is around. Additionally, the study seems to be the main room of focus as this is where the films are played and the father spends most of his time. 

From this trailer, I will take of the fats pace editing as it made the trailer more effective when building tension towards the audience. Furthermore, I like that not all of the story line has been given away, this makes the audience start to ask questions, which is what I intend to do in my horror trailer.